Getting It Right

Back when I worked at Origin I realized that handing out a huge task list to the team was counter productive. Looking at my task list, I couldn't judge the scope of the work because it was too big to look at all at once. For anyone who saw the task list of Ultima VII or Ultima VIII they needn't bother traveling to the Grand Canyon. Cross that, I'll bet the Grand Canyon is much prettier, unless it was your job to fill it in with a hand shovel.

It's not enough to discover the tasks and put time estimates on them, after all. You have to be sure your team is up to the challenge. The only way everyone can be sure is to have everyone take those nasty task lists and specification documents and put their assignments down in their own words.

After all, who'd be crazy enough to write a milestone description that describes something as impossible as filling the Grand Canyon with pea gravel using nothing more than a hand shovel?